ToughDev

Hardware Vintage Computing

My journey with the Book 8088: swapping CGA/VGA cards, broken CF slot, and USB booting

May 18, 2025August 22, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment book 8088

Out of curiosity, I purchased two Book 8088 units from AliExpress, one with CGA and the other with VGA, hoping

Hardware Vintage Computing

Sharp Font Writer FW 600 Vintage 1984 Word Processor with Printer

April 29, 2025May 30, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment printer, sharp, word processor

In late 2022, I acquired the Sharp FW-600 Font Writer – a vintage word processor with a built-in printer, originally

Android General Programming Microsoft Office Software Development Vintage Computing Windows Tips

Running Windows apps on Xiaomi POCO Pad Android 14 tablet via Winlator

March 22, 2025May 16, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment bosh, dosbox, limbo x86, windows 95, windows 98, wine, winlator

I decided to spend the weekend making full use of my Xiaomi POCO Pad 12″ tablet, which features 8GB of

General Programming Linux Software Development Vintage Computing

Dosbian-X 2.0: Turn your Raspberry Pi into a 486DX emulator

February 24, 2025March 17, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment debian, dosbian, dosbox, ms dos, raspberry pi

I came across Dosbian-X 2.0, an interesting customized version of Debian 12 that boots straight into DOSbox, one of my

Mac OS Software Development

Install macOS Sequoia 15 on Dell Latitude 5410 laptop using OpenCore bootloader

January 15, 2025August 8, 2025 ToughDev 5410, hackintosh, itwlm, macos, opencore, refind, tuxera

Even when I already have a Mac Mini M2 Pro, I still play with Hackintosh. I love the ability to

General Programming Microsoft Office Software Development Windows Tips

Open Windows Write (WRI) files on Windows 11 using legacy versions of WordPad

December 9, 2024July 20, 2025 ToughDev 1 Comment pbrush, rich text format, windows nt, windows write, winword, wordpad

In my previous post a few years ago, I found that CWordPad, a WordPad clone for Windows 98, can open

Software Development Windows Tips

Back up copyright-protected DVDs as MKV using DVD Shrink, MakeMKV and ffmpeg

November 19, 2024February 19, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment dvd shrink, ffmpeg, makemkv, mpeg2, mpeg4

Many DVDs in my movie collection have degraded with age, so it’s time to back them up to a more

Software Development Windows Tips

Locate recently connected USB devices on Windows

October 7, 2024October 27, 2024 ToughDev 0 Comment powershell, usbdeview

I had a USB to Ethernet adapter which worked fine on Ubuntu 24 but did not work out of the

3CX Networking Software Development VoIP

3CX Phone System version 20: new features, API support and hosting flexibilities

September 26, 2024May 12, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment 3cx, call control api, voip

The last time I worked with 3CX was back in 2018, during a call center deployment where I used the

General Programming Linux Software Development Tips & Tricks

Add Docker bash exit prompt to prevent accidental data loss during container preparation

August 22, 2024October 22, 2024 ToughDev 0 Comment bash, debian, docker, linux

During the development of my Docker container image running on Ubuntu, I often type exit after making changes to my

CodeProject General Programming Software Development Windows Tips

Integrating DigiCert Click-to-Sign with InstallShield to sign both setup.exe and bundled MSI file

July 10, 2024October 21, 2024 ToughDev 1 Comment click-to-sign, code signing, digicert, installshield, MSI, signtool, smartscreen, visual studio, windows store

All apps submitted to the Windows Store must be signed with Authenticode digital signatures, and consequentially must not generate any

Hardware Radio/TV Vintage Computing Windows Tips

Toshiba 14AF43 14″ stereo CRT TV with composite, S-video and component inputs

June 29, 2024February 20, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment component input, composite, CRT TV, s-video

I came across the Toshiba 14AF43, a rare 14″ stereo CRT TV with composite, S-Video, component inputs, and decided to

Hardware Networking Vintage Computing VoIP Windows Tips

Dial-up Internet access in 2024 using the Viking DLE-200B telephone line simulator

May 28, 2024October 21, 2024 ToughDev 2 Comments dial-up, DLE-200B, Internet access, mypal, phone line simulator, retrozilla

I got to know the Internet in secondary school, using a 33.6Kbps US Robotics dial-up modem on my Pentium I

Hardware Reverse-engineer Vintage Computing

Tandy 2500RSX: a solid 386 workhorse from the DOS era

April 16, 2024August 18, 2025 ToughDev 0 Comment deskmate, ms dos, tandy

My first introduction to computers came in primary school with the Tandy 1000RSX, an 80386SX machine running at 25 MHz.

CodeProject Software Development Web Development

Upgrading jQuery version from 1.8 to 3.7 in a Web application

March 10, 2024June 3, 2024 ToughDev 0 Comment javascript, jquery, web development

Recently I was tasked with upgrading jQuery in a web portal which was last maintained in 2013 to the latest

Since 2008, ToughDev has explored embedded systems, software development, reverse engineering, and retro computing, bridging legacy hardware with modern software.

Recent projects include the Super 8086 Box PC XT emulator, the dsMP3 embedded radio, and detailed teardowns of vintage PCs such as the Tandy 2500RSX.

I also write about voice, AI, and communication products from a technical user’s perspective. My recent first-impressions review of Talk Machine looks at its voice-first interface, email-based voice notes, transcript refinement, and natural speech output.

Beyond publishing technical research, ToughDev also provides consulting and custom development services in embedded systems, mobile applications, VoIP, microcontroller firmware, and integration with vintage or undocumented hardware platforms.

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